... This mineral wealth included vast amounts of gold and silver ore. The reports of opulent Mexican empires brought back by explorers on Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba's and Juan de Grijalba's coastal journeys caused the Spanish government to look inland. Cortes Hernan (also Hernando or Fernando) Cortes was born in Medellin, Estramadura ... to the island of Cozumel. Cortes's ship was the last to arrive and he found upon landing that one of his commanders, Pedro de Alvarado, had rashly removed the ornaments from the local temples and forced the Cozumelans to flee to the center of the small is...

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• Approx Pages: 21

... off earlier than scheduled. First he probed the Yucatan coast, and then sailed westward to put in, finally, at a location he called Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (present day Veracruz), "rich town of the true Cross."" It was in Veracruz that Cortes first learned of the fabulous treasures that, ... to lead him onward to the Aztec stronghold. Two interpreters, an Indian woman named Marina, a shipwrecked Spaniard picked up in Yucatan, and Jeronimo de Aguilar, who was fluent in Maya, were Cortes's only intelligence. He gathered his intelligence, and Marina had come to Cortes as part of the ... ...

• Word Count: 4480
• Approx Pages: 18
• Grade Level: High School

... Aztecs thought he was Quetzacoatl so they showered him with riches. Later he captured Montezuma, the Aztec emperor, with the help of the Aztec's enemies. La Noche Triste, June 30-July1, 1520, was when the Aztecs avenged their lost emperor. The chased Cortes and his men out of their capital with ... The Aztec empire was no more. Cortes named his newly acquired land New Spain. In 1528, Cortes established an audencia, or royal court. Antonio de Mendoza became the first viceroy in 1538. Cortes then began to give out grants (encomienda system) that gave colonists control over Indian labor an...

• Word Count: 2646
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School